Chapter 4

It wasn't hard to spot the car that was following me, but I didn't get nervous. I just memorized and kept calm. However, if I hadn't experienced death, it would have been difficult to keep calm in such a situation.

The cab pulled into the parking lot in front of Lizzie's Bar. I left the car calmly, noting with a glance as the car that had been following me parked across the street. Still not panicking, I walked to the entrance of the bar.

There were girls on either side of the door, and as I approached, one of them stepped away from the wall and took a couple steps forward, throwing her bat threateningly on her shoulder.

"Boy, you came at a bit of a bad time."

"Or maybe not that way..."

The dark-skinned girl grinned without deigning to look away from the wall.

"No, I've come to the right place at the right time. Inform a certain Judy that a specialist from Regina has arrived."

"Hmmm..."

The bat girl's eyes lit up and she nodded her head.

"Come in..."

"Thank you..."

I nodded to the girl, who stepped aside, and went inside the bar and went through a small corridor with a security desk and ended up in the center hall. It was two tiers high, and I looked around with interest.

"Who are you?"

"I was approached by the bartender who first noticed me."

"Judy's."

"Hmmm..."

The bartender's eyes lit up.

"Wait, she'll be here in a couple minutes."

I nodded my head and continued to look around quietly, and five minutes later the girl I was waiting for came from behind one of the doors.

A quiet whistle escaped me on its own.

"Judy?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I just didn't expect my employer to be so beautiful."

"Pfft! No chance..."

I shrugged.

"I didn't do anything. I was just stating a fact. I'm not gonna start a relationship for a pretty face."

"Uh-huh?

She looked me over and waved her hand, urging me to follow her.

"Uh-huh. I'm gonna need one here, too.

I tapped my temple a couple times with my index finger, with the girl looking back and noticing my gesture.

"...and also here ..."

A couple of punches to the ribcage.

"...there was something."

"Brains and soul?"

"You know."

I nodded my head a couple times.

"You can hear a good saying in the Russian quarter. You meet people by their clothes and see them off by their wits. It is the same here, a beautiful face is certainly good, but nowadays it means almost nothing, you can make any appearance. But you can't put someone else's brains in, as well as some moral values..."

"You're funny. with that kind of outlook on life, and you went solo?"

"Sometimes life works out in such a way that you either have to lie down, fold your arms across your chest and die, or get up and walk."

"Uh-huh?

"Uh-huh. yesterday a student at the corporate academy, a hopeful mom who works her ass off to pay for tuition...

I shake my head.

"...an orphan today, unable to pay for an apartment and tuition. So, you either go to work solo with all that entails, or you just go and die in the nearest back alley."

"I understand you..."

"Hmm?"

"When I was a kid, I found a fire truck in a junkyard... its condition was crap, but I was interested..."

"Did you restore it?"

"Uh-huh...

"Clever fool..."

"Hey!"

"Come on, the whole Knight City dump is owned by corporations. And if it's still realistic to steal a piece of junk, like a washing machine or something, then a fire truck..."

I shake my head.

"And you're probably gonna take it for a ride."

"Yeah..."

She mumbled quietly and a little resentfully, and I couldn't help myself and caught up with her and put my arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, come on. I'm not judging."

I shook her slightly causing a surprised look from the girl.

"I guess, uh. if my situation hadn't made me grow up so fast, I'd be happy to build a fire truck or a police car out of... a fire truck or a police car out of parts I found in a junkyard and then take it for a ride."

"Hmph..."

"The other thing is that it was stupid and reckless, but after all, children are children to do such things..."

We walked down to the basement and I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"And this place is, uh. pretty clean."

"Yeah..."

Judy shrugged.

"...what did you expect?"

"Creative mess."

"Huh, you think so highly of me."

She shook her head.

"All right, show me what needs fixing."

"Well, let's start with this server..."

She took me to one of the rooms.

"...as I was told you have not worked with equipment for brans, but you can look at computers and servers... so do it."

"Uh-huh... will you give me a tool?

"Let's go..."

We returned to the main room of the basement, where I was given a set of tools and waved me towards the server room, which is where I came in. At that, I kept the door closed and decided to return to the conversation.

"So what happened next?"

"What's next?"

"So you put the car together, you took it for a spin..."

"А..."

There was a sadness in Judy's voice. Of course I knew her story, but she was my favorite character in the game. I'd even played the game a couple times as a girl for the sake of it! So it was really interesting to keep the conversation going and learn her story firsthand, so to speak.

"And then there was the colony..."

"Did you get it?"

"Uh-huh. and they charged me with stealing a fire truck...

I was silent for a while, having found the problem of the server and thinking how best to fix it. There were different options, of course, but I wanted to do everything cheaply and reliably enough.

"So you're a big shot, huh?"

"Pfft. Uh-huh... when I got out, of course, I tried to sue the city, or rather I went to lawyers who...

"What an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Judy, the only thing dumber in this town would be to sue a corporation."

I shook my head and walked out of the server room.

"Where are the details?"

"Oh, there you go."

They waved me over to the lockers and I walked over to them to pick out the parts I needed.

"What am I supposed to do? Accept it? Swallow it?"

I cast Judy an attentive glance.

"What?"

"Uh, no. I could barely resist answering your question. As for your question. you don't sue the system, you sue the man. Pull up your file, find the name of the official, then pull up the fire department records and find the data on the decommissioned car you were rebuilding and sue the individual."

"But..."

"Judy..."

I interrupted her without letting her say a word.

"...I'm not saying the system is perfect or anything like that. I'm just saying that only another system can fight a system. Only a corporation can fight a corporation, only a city can fight a city. The case against you was started by a very specific reasonable person, who USED the system to make a profit at your expense or maybe get promoted."

I shrugged and walked toward the server with the parts I'd picked up to repair it.

"Just accept as fact you were sent to juvie by the very person..."

"You think...but he has a family..."

"You know, uh."

I looked out of the server room and caught a glimpse of Judy, who was also tearing herself away from some brans equipment.

"...it's good to be kind and not want to hurt someone. But in this particular situation, the only way to not hurt anyone is to forget and forgive. If you want compensation, you should definitely sue the person."

I went back to the server room and continued working.

"After all you too have a family and a life of your own and this official didn't care about that."

"I guess..."

For a few hours we just worked, exchanging work-related phrases, during which time I fixed the server that had failed and inspected and cleaned the rest of the servers. I left the server room and sat down in the chair across from Judy.

"So?"

"What?"

She looked up at me.

"What else do I need to fix?"

"You done with the server room?"

"Yeah, you can take that job. Not only fixed the server that went down, but also cleaned up the rest. So nothing should be down anytime soon."

Judy nodded and stood up and went to the server room, which she left a dozen minutes later.

"It's okay..."

She looked at me carefully.

"Can you look at the old comps?"

"Come on..."

I shrugged, and Judy took me to the warehouse where I burrowed into the machinery.

We finished with her only late in the evening, when the bar was already fully operational, it could be heard quite clearly. Although the soundproofing here was excellent.

"So how are you guys doing?"

"Susie?"

Judy looked up from the table yes, and I looked up at the girl who had entered.

"Yeah, you've been working too hard?"

"Uh-huh...

"What do you think of the guy?"

"The guy knows his way around. He may be zero in hardware, but he fixed the server and has already fixed two old computers."

"So you're happy?"

"Uh-huh. I'd book him in for tomorrow, have him clean up the computers before the end. We could use the extra hardware in working order.

"Are you okay?"

"So no one's closed my order yet..."

I shrugged.

"So on the way out I'll just call the fixer, tell them you have more work than expected and come back to your place tomorrow morning."

"Great!"

Judy looked genuinely pleased.

"Can we exchange contacts? When you get there, call me and I'll meet you at the gym."

I nodded my head and we exchanged contacts, after which I stood up and stretched and walked towards the exit.

"Okay, uh. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh-huh, bye... wait!

Judy's shout made me stop.

"Uh-huh?

"What's your name? Because you know me, and I only know your call sign from Regina... Quiet."

She snorted.

"...although you do like to talk..."

"David. David Martinez. And I'm quiet because I do my more delicate work quietly. without too much fuss or sacrifice."

"Uh, okay. Well, I'm Judy Alvarez."

"Nice to meet you, Judy. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh-huh. Bye.